In the weeks since, I've seen quite a bit of media coverage of Facebook's impact on psychological health. One piece, written by my friend Stacey Shackford for the Cornell Chronicle, examined research being done at Cornell on Facebook's positive influence on college students' self-esteem. Another, an AP piece by Lindsey Tanner, says there might be such a thing as "Facebook depression" experienced by some teens.

The Cornell study (very small sample size, all college students) found that when students spent time scrolling down their Facebook walls, looking not only at what they had posted, but at their friends' responses, they had increased self-esteem. Students who edited their Facebook profiles while the study was taking place reported the highest levels of self-esteem.

As I said in my post a few weeks ago and as Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe says in the AP piece, Facebook only presents self-selected information. When we build our profiles and comment on friends' status messages, we make conscious choices about how to construct an online identity.

It makes sense, then, that when we're constructing the best versions of ourselves and getting positive feedback about it, we feel good.

For teens who are vulnerable to depression, however, says the AP article, Facebook can be "a particularly tough social landscape to navigate."

"Facebook is where all the teens are hanging out now. It's their corner store," O'Keeffe says. Facebook can be the online version of the locker room, school hallway, or bus stop, too, with all of the good, fun things that go on, but all of the negative, too.

For teens who have less experience figuring out social cues, don't think they have cool stuff to post, don't get positive virtual feedback from friends, or who are actively bullied online, Facebook is just another place to feel bad about themselves.

For two years, I've been writing about social media, particularly how social media can help or hurt suicide prevention efforts. (You can read my first post here.) I think it's great that the ubiquity of Facebook is being addressed by academic researchers and the American Academy of Pediatrics, who now have their own set of social media guidelines authored by O'Keeffe. I'm looking forward to seeing more academic research and data on social media as well as others who have a stake in the healthy development of youth and teens broaching this issue. What about you?

I hope any future studies don't just concern themselves with teens and young adults and their relationship with Facebook. Depressed adults probably don't find their life affirmed by reading their FB friends' stories about amazing vacations, super-smart and witty children, and incredible Significant Others. On the other hand, even without Facebook these depressed adults would still be depressed. They'd just have a smaller pool of "friends" to silently envy.

I must admit that I participate in Facebook just to see what is going on with my circle of friends and family. When I look at what they post I wonder just what do they do with their time as the subjects and comments seem to be so very frivolous, void of substance, shallow and sometimes totally mindless. No deep thought on Facebook--only social flippery. But then again, maybe I need to get a different group of friends!! Family---well you can't choose your family, but only shrug and say "oh well!!" At any rate, I've got better things to do than be flippant and play those stupid games on Facebook.

I have participated in Facebook for over 2 years now. What I have noticed is that my social orientation seems to be intensified. I thought that connecting on Facebook would bring me a closeness that has been absent from my real life. As I began using my account I noticed that certain people had more "Likes" clicked on, more comments in response to their post and posted very positive statuses. As the use of the service progressed, this began to bother me. I am an adult. I do suffer from depression episodes. I do have esteem issues. In fact it was because of these esteem issues I thought Facebook would provide a support. However I must say just the opposite has happened. I began having notions of posting abusive, negative responses to some of these "social butterflies" as I called them, the ones with 50+ responses to their comments. But this idea was almost immediately rejected. That kind of thing never solves anything. Another idea was to just abandon my Facebook account. But I have some important contacts I make through Facebook. To abandon my account is out of the question.

One thing that gives me some respite is my goals. I have been pursuing a Ψchology education rather late in life right now and am not doing too shabby. But I must find a way of shouldering the burden of this, what now is termed “Facebook depression.” So in the spirit of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) I analyzed my thinking: “Just because they are doing so good means I am not because they get much response and I get very little.” Not true. Much of the value we have as human beings does not come directly from being recognized. Actually being recognized can be a hollow and fleeting thing. One whose total support structure is built on it can face certain repercussions that have addictive-like appearance. That’s a subject for another Ψchology Today article. Then there is the issue of competition. The thought goes: “I am at the bottom and need to show some comparable performance before I can value myself as a person.” This one is very closely related to my previous thought. It is also somewhat different. With this one I must ask myself, does a commanding social presence constitute a good predictor of human value? Do I value myself based upon my performance in the arena of social competition? If I do, my personal well-being is in the hands of others who judge me by the way they respond to me. I flat out REFUSE to let that happen. While the social-lites are out there flaunting their latest fashion, hairstyles and whatever else, I am in the closed confines of my room on my computer completing an assignment. Right now I am getting ready to Ace another course – Psychological Tests and Measures (I wonder how a test-retest would have shown a change on my depression scale on the MMPI-II). My goals are to make a difference in lives of people with my skills and gifts. By letting these clowns impact how I feel about myself, that is kind of going in the wrong direction, isn’t it? So to sum up my response to these two maladaptive thoughts, I must say that what one builds one brick at a time in secret eventually will be stronger and outlast the thing that is built using an airbrush on a canvas for for instantaneous gratification.

Well here I end this. I wonder if someone else would like to post some recognized maladaptive thoughts in this area of Facebood depression and propose a CBT style approach that can be taken toward resolve and self-affirmation.